Various medical devices have been developed for the delivery of therapeutic agents to the body. However, many challenges remain in providing drugs at desired target sites for sustained lengths of time.
For example, the problem of vascular injury presents a significant challenge during balloon angioplasty and coronary stenting procedures. Unfortunately, a limited number of controlled, long term, localized drug delivery systems have been developed that can address the complications of vascular injury, for example, endothelial denudation and exposure of the highly thrombotic subendothelial layer. Although some medical devices such as drug-coated stents provide a vehicle for sustained localized delivery of therapeutic agents (e.g., immunosuppressive and/or antiproliferative agents), other medical devices such as balloon angioplasty devices do not.
The present invention addresses these and other needs in the field.